The subject matter disclosed herein relates to regulating current provided to semiconductor devices. More specifically, the subject matter disclosed herein relates to regulating gate drive currents provided to an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT).
In general, energy markets, such as the renewable energy markets, rely on semiconductor devices (e.g., IGBTs) to perform various power conversion operations. In order to operate these IGBTs, a current is provided to the gates of the IGBTs via gate driver circuits. Typically, gate driver circuits include a voltage source with a current-limiting, fixed value resistor in series with the gate of the IGBT. As such, each gate driver circuit may use one resistor with its voltage source to provide a turn on signal to the IGBT and another resistor with its voltage source to provide a turn off signal to the IGBT. The values for both of these resistors are determined based on the operating limits of the corresponding IGBT and various IGBT performance factors such as minimizing switching losses, electromagnetic emissions, and gate oscillations in the IGBT. However, as IGBTs become more capable of switching faster (i.e., hard-switching), the IGBTs' gate drive circuits' resistors may not adequately prevent current and voltage transients on the IGBTs from generating electromagnetic emissions, which may cause various problems in the IGBT.